I own a small (but instantly scalable) marketing company in Hollywood, Florida. We used to be on Madison Avenue in New York until we realized that it no longer matters where we are. And, of course, we can always get to New York, or anywhere, in a few hours. We're experts in direct marketing and we work with huge to very small clients. We love them all. We specialize in thorny issues and the medium doesn’t really matter. Direct Marketing’s essentials migrate very nicely, even (especially) into social media. I've written a lot of (published) books and hundreds of articles about marketing. Some of the books have been translated into as many as 8 languages. We call what we do "the magic formula", which is a fancy way of saying “Understand what you’re trying to achieve. Work hard. Test everything. Drop losers, roll out winners. Repeat.” We help our clients get new customers, keep the ones they have and get back the ones they’ve lost. We love developing new brands and now we're using our direct marketing background to build powerful websites and social media campaigns that engage audiences, generate buzz and, more important, develop profitable response.

Why A Brand Matters

In one sense, perhaps the most important sense, a brand is a promise. Think of some top brands and you immediately know what they promise: McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Budweiser, Ford, Apple, MetLife.

You know what you’re going to get with a well-branded product or service.

In another sense, a brand is a specific combination of logo, words, type font, design, colors, personality, price, service, etc.

It’s also a bundle of attributes. Think of Volvo, for instance, and your first thoughts are probably going to be something like “well built, comfortable, Swedish” and, most of all, “safety.”

The promise, look, personality and attributes can eventually acquire a special patina of what I call “me” appeal. Buying a certain brand says something about the person who buys it. Apple has that patina. So does Prius. The booze and clothing businesses are filled with patina products: Cristal, Guinness, Ralph Lauren, Manolo Blahnik.

All of this can lead to sub-brands, like iPhone and iPad which acquire the aura of the parent brand.

It takes a lot of time, money and very hard work to build and maintain great brands like that, brands that can speak volumes in just a few syllables.

That’s why I’m usually rendered speechless when a prospective client asks us for a quick “Brand”.

It happens a lot more often than you’d think. I love developing brands from scratch but when the client needs something quick, there’d better be a strong existing brand already in place.

If you’re going to develop your brand, the last thing you want to do is follow the beaten path. You want to head down your own road. Your brand has to plant itself in the hearts and minds (especially hearts) of prospects and customers.

It also has to be memorable. Your brand is the focus of all your marketing efforts (yes, it needs to say something about your company, connect with your target market, be motivating in some way and always create loyalty).

Sometimes a brand is memorable because of the little things. TD Bank has a special place in their branches for you to deposit all those coins you collect in jars. It’s called the Penny Arcade and makes it a fun game and you can even win prizes. If your kids collect coins, you might want to open a TD account so they can enjoy the process of saving their money there. Years ago Dime Savings Bank in New York had a small dime carrier it gave to kids and then they’d fill up the 50 slots with a dime in each one (Dime Bank, get it?) and bring it to exchange for a $5.00 bill. Little things can mean a lot (and little things are all do-able on the smallest budget.)

When you think about your brand, think about all the elements: promise, personality, look, voice, service, attributes, memorability, even patina. There’s a good chance that if you ask customers, prospects and competitors about it, you’ll be surprised at how strong your brand actually is.

It’s shorthand for what you are.

Does your brand make you feel great about your own company? This is our logo on the wall when you walk into our agency office. It always makes us smile!

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I greatly appreciate your take on the value of brands. It is so refreshing to hear someone talking about “branding” again. Our company has been involved in helping to create some of the brands you posted in your logo comp. It seems today everyone is talking about “advertising”…and not looking long-term or cross-platform at their brand power. I believe a brand is simply a feeling. Your marketing’s job is to control that feeling to lead to trust, purchase & loyalty. Thanks for starting a “brand” conversation…let’s see where it goes!!

If a brand is a promise (and I agree) it is essentially an idea: not a product, service, organisation or person. So Karl Max is the human being, communism is the idea, communism is the brand. Gandhi is the human being, Gandhism is the brand. Steve Jobs is the human being, ‘thinking differently’ is the brand. Theoretically speaking, brands are immortal, human beings are not. I believe brand professionals may end up creating some semantic fog by turning a person into a brand…is this making sense, Lois?:-)

Best line: “It’s shorthand for what you are”. With all the noise out there branding is a way for the human mind to apply a filter and cut thru the clutter. A brand could also be described as an emotional short cut to a decision; consistent delivery of the promise augmented with iconic reminders makes it easy to decide since a lot of the risk is gone.

Nice article, Lois. You’ve introduced me to a new term, “patina”, which is a great alternative articulation of the “social benefit”or “personal positioning” that consumption of a brand brings.

As for creating brands, I do believe there is a time and place for establishing new brands quickly- such as where an attractive market opportunity exists but your current brands are incapable of stretching across to the specific need state where the opportunity is located (even via sub brands). The rigour around creating a brand should be considerable (brand identity/DNA development) but the brand image; how the brand is perceived, it’s associations and consumers’ engagement must be earned over time.